Botsford Fire Rescue’s tankers went on a mutual aid call last weekend that took apparatus and personnel well out of town for a few hours. Members of Newtown’s southernmost volunteer fire company joined multiple regional companies providing assistance in Bethany on October 15 after a stubborn fire broke out at a landscaping business.

The work was done as part of a tanker task force effort, which calls on preselected trucks to respond to a fire.

“It’s set up so you don’t eliminate any town’s full resources,” explained Botsford Second Assistant Engineer Aaron Nezvesky, who operated one of Botsford’s two tankers during the massive response effort.

Bethany firefighters began responding to the fire as early as 7 am Saturday, when a large pile of mulch began burning above ground.

“We were told the owner had been moving and digging at the mulch and logging yard, but the mulch underground was probably smoldering for a while,” Nezvesky said. Deep-seated smoldering fires at composting facilities can burn for days before being noticed or showing above ground.

Botsford was dispatched just after 11 am, according to Nezvesky. He and Second Lieutenant Mike Dziubina, who operated Botsford’s second tanker, were initially sent to Stepney to stage. Botsford Assistant Chief Pete Blomberg and Captain Kyle Placko also initially responded, according to Nezvesky.

The firefighters were then sent to Stevenson, where they checked in with task force coordinators. The group — by then a combination of seven tankers and engines from adjacent towns — departed for Bethany at 11:40.

They traveled toward 256 Amity Road/Route 63, where the wood and earth materials business is located. There they joined additional firefighters and apparatus responding from Beacon Falls, Easton, Monroe, Oxford, Prospect, Seymour, Shelton, Trumbull, and Woodbridge, some who had already been on location for a few hours.

“There may have been others,” Nezvesky said. “There were a lot of guys down there.”

On scene, there were three ladder trucks with their water streams aimed at the stubborn fire. Nezvesky said there were also six portable ponds collecting and dispersing water to the scene, two fire engines pulling water from those ponds, and two fill sites — the locations where tankers go to be filled in order to transport more water back to the portable ponds near the fire — all operating.

In Bethany, tankers traveled continuously in a three-mile loop to fill sites on Luke Hill Road and Peck Road. The fire was behind an industrial building on the eastern side of Amity Road. Photos from the scene show ladder trucks behind the building, and portable ponds set up along the edge of the road.

Each of Botsford’s tankers, according to Nezvesky, moved eight loads of water.

“That’s 24,000 gallons of water through each of those trucks,” he said.

Botsford’s firefighters returned to town around 3:40, according to Nezvesky. Other companies remained on the scene longer.

There were no injuries reported.

While it was a long day for those who responded, Nezvesky said there was a benefit beyond dousing the fire.

“There were a lot of companies there, including a few I’d never heard of,” he said. “Everyone was great, talking with each other, working really well.

“It opened the doors for others to hear about Botsford, and for us to hear about other companies,” he said.

Saturday’s assist in Bethany was the third mutual aid response for Botsford Fire last week. The company sent manpower and apparatus to assist at structure fires in Easton and Monroe, October 11 and 13, respectively.

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Managing Editor Shannon Hicks can be reached at shannon@thebee.com.